good news and bad news

First - the bad news. I received an email from a friend of mine in PA letting me know that a friend of ours had died of melanoma cancer. She had just found out about a spot of melanoma on her toe while we were still living there 2 1/2 to 3 years ago. She passed away this weekend and I just feel so sad. Can you imagine the pain her husband must be going through - and her children...it brings me to tears just thinking of what they are going through. This tragedy has reminded me to love on my family and friends every chance I get. It has also made me think about my position on always being the one behind the camera. I am so self-conscious about how I look. I put on some pounds during both pregnancies and thanks to my non-functioning thyroid...I can't seem to take it off! I need to get over it. I need to remember that if something unfortunate were to happen to me - I want my girls to have lots of pictures of us having fun together. (sigh...) This is something that is so hard to think about - yet I can't stop thinking about it. KWIM?

Ok - so now for the good news. You still have time to get in on the Rusty Pickle giveaway! Go to the blog now: http://rustypickle.typepad.com/ and just leave a comment on today's post to be entered to win today's giveaway...NEW French Market papers AND an acrylic album! WOW! Go back tomorrow to see if you've won...and if you haven't, keep leaving comments! The last day of the giveaway will be soon - but it will be a big one I'm told. So don't miss out!

What else is new...
Tom and I are starting to talk about buying a house. When I start looking - I get so excited and seriously - I just LOVE looking at potential houses. We went to an absolutely BEAUTIFUL neighborhood last weekend. Many of the new homes were on a lake. Gorgeous houses. But I think the neighborhood is a little far north for us...well, for Tom. We have his commute to consider. So I'm looking on some builder websites and found another house that I fell in love with. And I'm telling you - this house was AWESOME. Again, on a lake, mature trees and landscaping, 2 story (there are way too many 1 story homes in FL) and the house itself looks like homes that are priced for twice as much in this area. Tom even admitted that he liked it. I had called the builder to see about getting a walk through, but 6 hours later when they called me back, I was told that the house sold that very same day. BOOOOOO!!! Even though we are not ready to buy right now, I was really - truly bummed. I know there's something else out there for us. But you know, when you get all excited about something, it's hard not to be bummed.

I am busy designing classes for Heart in Hand Scraps. It is a wonderful site that offers online classes. They have an ad in the latest Paper Crafts issue as a launch of sorts since the site was new and basically had members just from word of mouth up until now. Lots of great instructors there - check out the bios and join the forums. Things are going to start taking off there very soon! My first class will be available soon - possibly this Friday!. I've also been designing projects and writing supporting articles for another site that will be launching soon, designing some mini albums for a special project that I cannot share with you yet (there I go again!) and gearing up to play with more hybrid scrapbooking. Glitz sent the DT their CD's and it all looks so awesome. Those will be so fun to work with! And of course I'm busy doing projects for Rusty Pickle. Man oh man am I loving all the new stuff! The winter papers match the Grinchmas line and are so pretty! I have 2 layouts I will be uploading this next week that were designed with the new winter papers. I am also trying to get back to my album using French Market. I also have some acrylic albums sitting here that I want to work on. These new Rusty Pickle albums are to die for! I mention all this to let you know why I haven't uploaded many projects lately. Much of what I'm doing is for something specific that is not released yet. Exciting stuff I tell you!

ok - gotta run and get Lindsay...then tennis...then ballet for Jess...then out to dinner I hope! I will be uploading some photos from the RP Retreat in the next day or two. Beautiful place - and I had the best time!